Dispatch Culture

Essays from writers about American culture, staff recommendations, book reviews, and more, curated by Dispatch Ideas Editor Valerie Pavilonis every Saturday morning.

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Illustration by Noah Hickey/The Dispatch. (Poster by artist Milton Glaser; Photo by John Kisch Archive/Getty Images).

Dispatch Culture

Can AI Create Something Entirely New?

Valerie Pavilonis, Jenna Stocker, & Declan Garvey / February 28, 2026

Illustration by Noah Hickey/The Dispatch (Photo by K Vreeland/Classicstock/Getty Images).

Dispatch Culture

How to Sell Chewing Tobacco

Valerie Pavilonis, Chris Stirewalt, & Anna Coulter / February 21, 2026

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A four-panel pop art style portrait of a man wearing a cowboy hat, with each panel featuring different bold color combinations of purple, blue, yellow, pink, and cyan backgrounds.

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The Great American Wanderer

Valerie Pavilonis, Grayson Logue, Celine Lombardi, & John McCormack / June 6, 2026

Four stylized trees with round flower clusters in magenta, blue, and gray grow against vibrant cyan, yellow, orange, and magenta backgrounds divided into quadrants.

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Shaker Art in the Era of Manifestations

Valerie Pavilonis, Kate Prengel, Alex Demas, & Sharla Moody / May 30, 2026

# Alt Text Pop art-style portrait grid featuring four colorful variations of a bearded man with long hair wearing a patterned shirt, rendered in contrasting neon color schemes of cyan and magenta, yellow and blue, green and tan, and pink and blue.

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The Dude Can’t Abide Nihilism

Valerie Pavilonis, Alan Koppschall, Michael Warren, & Sam Buntz / May 23, 2026

A blue-toned historical engraving depicts a formally dressed man leaning on a cane standing on elevated ground, addressing three other figures in a ruined stone structure surrounded by a forested landscape.

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Those Other Times We Tried to Annex Cuba

Valerie Pavilonis, David B. McGarry, Greg Fournier, & James Scimecca / May 16, 2026

Can AI Create Something Entirely New?

How to Sell Chewing Tobacco

The Great American Wanderer

Shaker Art in the Era of Manifestations

The Dude Can’t Abide Nihilism

Those Other Times We Tried to Annex Cuba

The Great American Wanderer

Shaker Art in the Era of Manifestations

The Dude Can’t Abide Nihilism

Those Other Times We Tried to Annex Cuba

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